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Why do I get estimated readings in my bill when I have a smart meter?

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
February 13, 2017
84 replies
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Hi,

I have a smart meter why do I get estimated readings on my Bill? I thought a smart meter would know my correct readings.

Jonboy.

Best answer by Darran_OVO

Updated on 14/08/25 by Abby_OVO

Got a smart meter installed but noticed we’ve estimated your usage on your latest monthly summary? There’s a few reasons we could be using estimated readings when it comes to your bill, even if you have a smart meter.

It could be something as simple as not having the smart meter set up to send half hourly or daily readings. It’s worth checking your meter reading schedule with the Support Team, and get it updated if it’s set to a monthly reading. This will help prevent estimated bills as well as giving you a better view of your usage too. For more on this check out our handy topic below all about meter reading schedules:

If you know you have these set up and it’s not the issue, there’s a chance we could be experiencing communication issues with your meters.

The first place to check what’s going on with those smart meters is your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS). You’ll know something’s up if you see this message on the Homepage:

This message will appear if we haven’t received a reading from your meter as expected for at least 5 days. Hopefully this is just an intermittent issue and the meters will get back in touch with us soon. In the meantime it’s worth submitting a meter reading a few days before your next monthly summary is due.

To take a reading you’ll need to go to the meters themselves (this won’t be viewable on the In Home Display unfortunately).

For SMETS1 ‘Secure’ smart meters:

There’s a slight difference between the the S1 meters we installed. To take a dual (day/night) reading for Secure Liberty 110 S1 smart meters (which are designed to work best with storage heaters), press 9 on the meter’s keypad. If you’ve got a Secure Liberty 100 S1 smart meter, press 6 to confirm the Day and Night meter readings (pressing 9 will show the reading if you’re a single rate member with this meter).

For SMETS2 Aclara, Flonidan, Honeywell or Elster smart meters:

	Aclara (Elec) / Flonidan (Gas)	Elster (Elec) / Honeywell (Gas)
Reading the meter	Elec: Press A three times until TOU Rate 1 appears. Gas: Press C to wake up, then C to access the menu. Use B to scroll and C to select the reading option.	Elec: Press the top button once or twice Gas: Press the circle button once or twice

You can then enter this reading by clicking ‘Send reading’ on the Homepage message or by clicking on the ‘Meter Readings’ menu option:

Here you’ll be able to see the last reading we received and the date this was sent to us. Unless you’ve sent a manually reading already, this will be a good indication of when your smart meter lost communication with us. Click ‘Send electricity reading’ and you’ll be taken here:

It’s worth checking the reading you’ve taken against the last reading (it shouldn’t be a lower number - unless your meter’s faulty!) You can then type today’s reading into the box or boxes (for an Economy 7 meter) provided:

Click ‘Next, send a gas reading’ to send the reading from your other meter (if this applies to you!). If you refresh your Homepage you’ll notice your balance will update to include the up-to-date usage costs.

Hopefully this will be a temporary communication blip and we’ll be able to recover the communication without any further action. If it’s been a few weeks and you’re still noticing the smart meter message on your Homepage it’s worth carrying out a smart meter health check for your meter type below and forwarding the results on to our Support Team for further investigation:

SMETS1 Secure Smart Meter Health Check

SMETS2 Smart Meter Health Check

Fingers crossed those smart meters will be back in touch soon and you can continue enjoying all the great benefits of going smart! :slight_smile:

OVO member but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!

Interested but not yet an OVO member? - Check out our plans!

Show previous replies

C

cwniamh

Newcomer

Studying that bill your usage that you are being billed for actually seems reasonable.

You are on the Simpler Energy variable tariff - the charge per kWh is the same whather it’s peak or off-peak.
I assume that it’s being shown as peak/off-peak like that because at some time the meter has been set up for E7 or E10 tariffs; which is exactly what you would want for a flat with electric storage heaters.

I’d take an educated guess here that the the flat has electric storage heaters, and that the previous tenants were using them; probably on E7 or E10 tariff.

If they were they they would have been using a lot more electricity each month especially in winter.

That could be why when you give a reading the computer says that it looks low - because it is much lower that they have been used to seeing for that property when the previous tenants were there and using the storage heaters.

Looking at what the bill says, and ignoring for now if those are smart readings or your sent in readings.

For your billing period 18th March to 17th April you used a total of 218.894 kWh of electricity.

That doesn’t seem anything out of the ordinary to me.

It’s more than the 146.75 that I used in the equivalent period (mine’s 24th March to 23rd April) - but I’m single and there are 2 of you so I would expect you to use more.

The 2 of you are using about 1.5x the electricity that I use as a single person in a 1-bed flat (I have gas heating), which looks reasonable to me.
Indeed I would say it’s a low use for 2-people.

I’d just ignore it when it says that your readings look low.
They look low to the computer simply because that are lower than what it was used to seeing from the previous tenants.

PS. You could probably get the price per kWh down if you went for a fixed tariff, but I know that isn’t always possible in a rental if you are not expecting to be there long term.

this is helpful, thank you

Firedog

Super User

here is a photo of the meter - i dont believe it is a smart meter?

That is a fine example of the very latest Aclara SMETS2 meter of the type currently being installed in their thousands. I have one just like it, and it’s worked flawlessly since it was installed in 2023. Since it appears to be sending readings regularly, there’s no need for you to bother taking readings except perhaps once a month just to check that all’s well.

Did you not find the IHD (In-House Display) that should have come with the meter? The previous tenant should have left it behind for you. It can help a lot with identifying greedy appliances.

There’s a wealth of information in the online account, too, so you can see just what’s been happening.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |

C

cwniamh

Newcomer

here is a photo of the meter - i dont believe it is a smart meter?

That is a fine example of the very latest Aclara SMETS2 meter of the type currently being installed in their thousands. I have one just like it, and it’s worked flawlessly since it was installed in 2023. Since it appears to be sending readings regularly, there’s no need for you to bother taking readings except perhaps once a month just to check that all’s well.

Did you not find the IHD (In-House Display) that should have come with the meter? The previous tenant should have left it behind for you. It can help a lot with identifying greedy appliances.

There’s a wealth of information in the online account, too, so you can see just what’s been happening.

We have no IHD - and we would definitely see it as its a very small flat!

Can they be bought or will I have to get in touch with our landlord?

C

cwniamh

Newcomer

here is a photo of the meter - i dont believe it is a smart meter?

That is a fine example of the very latest Aclara SMETS2 meter of the type currently being installed in their thousands. I have one just like it, and it’s worked flawlessly since it was installed in 2023. Since it appears to be sending readings regularly, there’s no need for you to bother taking readings except perhaps once a month just to check that all’s well.

Did you not find the IHD (In-House Display) that should have come with the meter? The previous tenant should have left it behind for you. It can help a lot with identifying greedy appliances.

There’s a wealth of information in the online account, too, so you can see just what’s been happening.

We have no IHD - and we would definitely see it as its a very small flat!

Can they be bought or will I have to get in touch with our landlord?

Also, it says this on my account profile:

is this because i dont have an IHD?

Blastoise186

Super User

That’d be unrelated - you can use https://smart-meter-help.ovoenergy.com to diagnose.

As for the IHD? Check this one out:

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!

J

Jawaria sehrish

Newcomer

My ovo energy meter is wrongly calculating my daily usage. What should I do ?

We were not at home,still it shows the usage on daily basis and even no heating is on, no electric fridge or anything on, still everyday ,it is same. I think there is some problem with our meter.

Please help how to solve it

D

DavidWSR

Rank 2

As your use of elctricity is showing the same each day this suggests that something is remaining on. To double check this try switching off individual curcuits on the fuse board and see if the energy drops to zero on your display. This should identify the curcuit where the electricity is being used.

If this does not highlight the issue with everything switched off take it up with customer services who may be able offer some insight into this.

G

Gizzo

Newcomer

Also check any outbuildings like garages and sheds. If they have a power supply something may have been overlooked.

G

GillO

Newcomer

I wonder if by 'meter' you are referring to the IHD display which will be showing the same daily standing charge each day even if there is no electricity being used.

The In House Display is plugged into a socket in your house and can be moved around to any other socket. The meter is fixed to the incoming mains cable, commonly in an external cabinet.

My apologies if it's not that simple!

Ben_OVO

Community Manager

Afternoon @Jawaria sehrish and a warm welcome to the OVO Forum!

I can see you’ve had some really helpful responses here - we look forward to you coming back with some further information.

If you could let us know whether you’re referring to the ‘Usage’ pages of your app / online account, or your smart In Home Display screen that’d be really helpful.

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Why do I get estimated readings in my bill when I have a smart meter?

For SMETS1 ‘Secure’ smart meters:

For SMETS2 Aclara, Flonidan, Honeywell or Elster smart meters:

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